"So we went to Griffith Observatory and Griffith Park, the Getty Center, the Hollywood walk of fame, Santa Monica Pier and beach and... And right, the Original Farmers Market and The Grove, The Broad..." She was waddling his side by side and talking while their hands were intertwined.
Like any other ordinary couple, they walked on the road when they had to. No cars, no limelight, nobody disturbed them.
It was near dusk, and Sanaya took out her bucket list and contended while still holding his arm. "We can still go to many places. If we go to Santa Monica Pier now then we can see a classic seaside amusement park that glows with neon at the night. We can take a ride on the iconic Ferris wheel and roller coaster and then..."
Sanaya stopped talking when she saw he was staring at her. Right, she had been talking so much today. "Sorry, I was checking where can we go next. Here, you decide where you wanna go next."
She handed him the paper. She made a list of places she wanted to go with him. Nick grabbed it but he didn't say anything. He quietly took her to the seaside and sat on the beachside.
Seeing him sit she sat next to him and glanced at the starry sky. The whole day, he didn't talk much. He smiled sometimes, talked sometimes, and looked at her silently. Sanaya felt sadness inundating her until she saw him smiling.
Thankfully!
Nick was looking at the starry sky when Sanaya gazed at him. No, he did not look as dreary and pale as he seemed yesterday. As she stared at his hand that was holding hers, a smile left her mouth. 'He is wearing the ring...' She glimpsed at his ring finger.
Sanaya put her head on his shoulder and glared at the stars. So beautiful, the night sky of LA was... She wanted to submerge herself at that moment.
The beautiful sea wave came rushing towards them and left something for them.
Sanaya pointed her finger in that direction and cried out in excitement, "See, that's such a beautiful shellfish..." She quickly ran to get it and picking it up she got back to her place.
She showed it to him and cried out, "See, what I got. Isn't it beautiful?"
"It is beautiful..." He mumbled looking at it.
She heard him but his voice was so downward and emotionless. 'I couldn't make you feel better, could I?' His very eyes and the pain in them were not unnoticed. She knew he did not want her to feel sad for him so he came with her, he smiled and followed her. She felt so...
"There's an Oyster. Wow..." Sanaya ran to get an Oyster and then running to him she showed it to him, "See, what I have..."
"I am not sad..." But his words suspended her. Did he understand something? Did he notice already?
Sanaya smiled awkwardly and whispered, "Both of these two are beautiful, don't you think so..."
This time he stroked her face and then the Oyster fell from her hand. As she was about to look down he moved her face close to his and gawked into her eyes. "I know you had been trying to make me feel better, to make me feel happy..."
"I..."
"Yesterday... Something happened, I..." Nick wanted to tell her everything but words got stuck in his throat. Seeing he didn't want to talk about it, she stood up and dished, "You can talk about it when you want. Don't force yourself..."
She saw him keep his fists clenched. "I am hungry, are not you hungry too? Why don't we..." She was trying to change the topic as she did not want to see him sad but once she took a step suddenly he held her hand. The grip was tight as if he was scared to talk about it or he was fighting with himself to take it out all.
"I was kidnapped..."
Sanaya looked down at him when she heard him. Gradually he continued, "That day was my brother's birthday... After coming back home from school, when I entered our house, everybody... All the maidservants were sleeping on the floor, they seemed unconscious..."
She sat next to him and stared at him while listening to him.
"I called my brother's name several times and walked upstairs. But he did not reply, I went to his room but the door was opened and when I walked into his room I saw... all his toys were on the floor... Here and there. I called his name again but he did not reply. I was searching for him desperately but abruptly someone pressed a handkerchief over my mouth and I... I fainted... When I woke up, I saw..."
Nick paused for a moment. It had been so long he did not talk about it with anybody, he felt suffocated periodically but he couldn't say it to anyone but now...
Clenching her hand tight he proceeded, "I saw my brother was laid on the floor at a distance away from me. His hands and legs were shackled and his mouth was covered with something. He was laying unconscious on the ground... I tried calling his name and then I found out that my mouth was covered and my legs and hands were tied too just like him... I... I could not scream. I looked around, but there was nobody to help."
He seemed in agony, those words were taking all his internal strength to speak up. Sanaya put her hand gently on his shoulder and he took a breath.
"Two days passed by like that, we would get a loaf of bread and water to drink and nothing else... They beat us when we asked them to let us go... But then that night... I heard a man among them talk to someone over the call and he told that person that we could leave soon. I was happy that we could get out of that hell... My brother and I, both were waiting for them to let us go but... "
"But?"
"I was woken up suddenly. I heard some noises and opened my eyes, then I saw they were... They were holding a knife against my brother's neck and threatening my mom... I tried getting up and two men ran toward me and held a knife to my neck. I was scared... I didn't know what to do, they were threatening mom to sign on some papers and if she would not sign then they said they would kill me... I saw my mom crying, she didn't want to sign that d*mn paper...."
All Sanaya knew about his mom was that she was a doctor first and a model later and that she died an unnatural death at a young age...
"After she signed it, they showed their true colors. They... They walked towards my brother with a knife when their people stopped my mom... My brother was begging them to let us go but they didn't listen... I bit a man who was holding me up and tried running to my brother, he was crying but I couldn't move much. I tried to go to him but before I could do anything one of them beat me and they stabbed my brother... My mom shoved them away from her and ran towards him to save him but... They..."
Nick closed his eyes, he could never forget that scene. He suffered all these years after all. How could he forget his nightmare?
"They were trying to strangle my mom. She was... She was fighting for her life... I saw a knife just a little away from me, so I bite one man's hand and one man's leg then I took the knife and ran to stop them but I... They picked me up and beat me. Before my eyes, they stabbed my mom... I couldn't do anything, she was dying. She was in so much pain... They were running after me but my mom tried to stop them...."
"Nick, run away. Runaway from here, son. Get up, son... Go!" Her painful scream when one of the men kicked on her tummy, he could still hear her screaming. That blood-curdling scream of hers echoed in the room when one of them stood up on her wound and laughed.
Sanaya could see how fearsome he was. He was somehow holding it in. As she caressed his shoulder he stared at his hand. A drop of tears skipped his eyes. "I told her I would not leave her alone but she told me to run away or she would never forgive me... I ran away... I ran away from there. I don't remember where I ran off to but when I woke up I was told that... My mom and... My brother, they both were gone..."
So many years passed, and people always said one needs time to get over the nightmare but...
Him, shedding tears of pain after all these years... She couldn't see him in trauma, Sanaya saw him crying helplessly.
"I killed them, they died because of me. Sanaya, I killed my mom and my brother..."
He was not shrieking, with dry tears in his eyes. Sanaya saw he was extremely calm and his fists weakening. She dabbed his shoulder and blurted out in a slow voice tone, "You didn't... Don't blame yourself..."